Betty Y Okura Maekawa
May 28, 1919 - June 28, 2013
Obituary
Betty Yoneko Sato was born in Firwood, Washington on May 28, 1919 and left to be with the Lord on June 28, 2013 at age 94. She attended Firwood Grade School and went on to Sumner Junior High and graduated from Sumner High School in 1937. She was interned along with her siblings: John, Bessie, Robert, Rose and Frank and her parents Masamori and Masuyo Sato at Minidoka. She left camp to receive her nursing degree at Seton School of Nursing in Colorado Springs in 1946. She reached the rank of Lieutenant in the Army Reserves. Betty Yoneko married Mineral Minoru Okura on November 13, 1952 in Tacoma, Washington. They welcomed sons, Brian on April 4, 1954 and Jim on May 20, 1956. Her active nursing career included Tacoma General and Harborview Medical Center where she retired after 25 years.
Betty was an avid gardener and loved to go mushroom hunting. Many a weekday (before mushroom hunting became too commercial) Betty, Jim and Pam or Brian could be found tramping through the woods in their “secret places” finding the best mushroom buds for soup and mushroom rice. The whole family looked forward to meals at Aunt Betty’s house. There was always enough to feed an army and enough for everyone to have a doggie bag for home. There were sushi-making sessions, apple pie baking lessons, “grandma beans” recipes handed down–some with great success, and some not-so-successful. Boy Scout Troop 55 members still reminisce about Mrs. Okura’s blueberry pie after a 50-mile hike…after a week of hiking and paddling, it was manna from heaven to those scouts.
Betty loved to travel and joined the Senior Safari group for “field trips” to the mountains, to the lakes, to Branson Missouri, Crater Lake in Oregon and more extended vacations to Hawaii, cruising to Alaska and through the Panama Canal. She was able to visit all her brothers and sisters—those located out of Washington State: Washington DC, Hawaii, Michigan, and San Diego.
Betty had the greatest joy in her life when her grandchildren started to arrive: Carrie Matsuhira in 1986, Stacey Masako in 1990 and Christopher James in 1995.
Betty Yoneko Okura was joined in a “late-in-life” marriage to Yoshizo Maekawa on February 2, 1991. They loved to visit friends; Betty now had an enthusiastic traveling companion to Washington, DC, vacation cruises and the places she never had time to visit. She always said she should have done her traveling with Min and the boys, but there was never enough time. Now she had the time and was enjoying it immensely
At the 1999 Sato Reunion in Bend, Oregon at age 80, she was the only “elder Sato” that went river rafting—and she was able to keep her straw hat intact!! That reunion was the highlight of that time in her life—almost all of her family was able to gather, reunite, meet for the first time and celebrate Betty’s 80th birthday.
She was a wonderful wife, a strict, “but they learned their lesson” mother, a loving and generous grandmother and a gracious helpmate as a mother-in-law.
She was preceded in death by her mother, father and brother Robert; her first husband Mineral Minoru Okura and her second husband Yoshizo Maekawa and daughter-in-law Pam. Betty is survived by her two brothers John and Frank and two sisters, Bessie and Rose, sons Brian (Lesley) and Jim, and grandchildren Carrie, Stacey and Christopher. There are also many, many well-loved nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews. She is greatly missed, but we are blessed to know she is with the Lord she loved so well.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Blaine Memorial UMC, Nisei Veterans Committee Foundation, Nikkei Concerns or your favorite charity. We welcome your comments and remembrances you have of Betty and her life for posting.
Thank you Betty for all the amazing and beautiful flowers and garden. We will continue to do our best to keep it up. Everyone in the neighborhood remembers you so foundly and misses you.
Betty was a wonderful and talented gardener. She will be greatly missed.